When a typical (nonprofessional) burglar attacks a safe in a home, motor home, etc., he or she finds a hammer and uses that hammer to knock the knob and dial off the dialing means. Then, the burglar uses the hammer, a screwdriver, or other tools to pound on the spindle, thus driving it downwardly. This forces the bottom plate of the housing of the lock mechanism away from the main body of such lock housing. This, in turn, operates the relockers. The relockers normally stop the burglar from entering the safe.
The result, however, is a large problem in the safe industry, an industry which relies heavily on relockers to prevent the indicated type of entry. The problem is that it is often very expensive for a locksmith hired by the owner of the safe to put the damaged safe back into operating condition after the burglar has done his or her damage. In some cases, the cost of putting the safe back into operating condition may approximate the initial cost of the safe itself. This is particularly true where the safe is embedded in concrete, as is often the case.
A distinct problem involved relative to apparatus mounted on the doors of safes is that the industry--and the underwriters--do not want any holes in the doors other than the single hole necessitated by the spindle of the lock mechanism. Thus, it is important that there be no additional unplugged holes.
Another type of entry into a safe, this one being employed by professional burglars, involves a computer-controlled automatic-dialing system. The burglar simply connects such system to the knob on the safe dial, following which the auto-dial system dials enormous numbers of combinations until the right one is reached. For such a system to work, it is typically necessary that there be a knob present on the dial, and that the knob be accessible to the auto-dialer.